Ingredients:

• 1 cup – Raw Rice
• 1/4 cup – moong Dal
• 10- 15 Cashew nuts (half split)
• 2tbsp – Ghee
• 1 tsp – Oil
• 5-7 cups – water
• Ginger, small piece (finely chopped)
• Tempering: 1/2 tsp – Mustard Seeds
• 4-5 Peppercorns crushed
• 1/2 tsp – jeera/cumin seeds
• 4-5 Curry leaves
• 2-3 Red dry chillies
• 2-3 Shallots finely cut half (optional)
• Seasoning: 1/2 tsp – Pepper powder
• Salt – according to taste
• 1/2 tsp – Turmeric powder
• For garnish: 3-4 Cashews (fried)
• Coriander, finely chopped

Method:

1. Pre-preparation:
2. Soak rice and dal separately in water for about 15-20 minutes.
3. In a pressure cooker or a heavy bottom wok or kadai, add the oil and ghee and once hot, add all the ingredients for tempering.
4. Remove moong dal from water and fry it with the tempered ingredients till you get the aroma of fried dal.
5. Add the chopped ginger and seasoning ingredients and mix well.
6. Remove rice from water and give it a good stir, ensuring the rice is blended well with the other ingredients.
7. Add 5-6 cups of water if using a pressure cooker, or a little more if cooking in a wok or big pan.
8. Your final result should be well blended and super soft mushy rice.
9. Remove from heat and set aside.
10. In another wok, add ghee and the garnishing ingredients. For a rich pongal, you could add more ghee than suggested, or simply replace it with vegetable oil if you are conscious about all the fat.
11. To the browned garnishing, add the rice mixture and garnish with chopped coriander.
12. Serve hot with varieties of chutney or piping hot sambhar.

Recipe courtesy of Sify Bawarchi